Corals not looking so hot and strange test results...

bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
Hey folks, I am having a little trouble with the 12 gal. nano I setup for my wife about two months ago. I used 12 lbs. of mature live rock from a six year old system along with 10 lbs. of live sand from the same system. All the initial water came from my 24 gal. nano in our home. There of course was no cycle, I let the tank sit a week before adding any creatures to test temperature, etc. Added a clean up crew, all levels remained perfect. Last week all corals looked great it was starting to take off, however, this week some corals are showing signs of being unhappy especially a torch coral and pink palythoas, everything else seems fine (everything else includes toadstool leather, assorted zoanthids, green star polyps, pink Ricordea florida, and assorted mushrooms). I really wasn't that concerned, but my wife was upset her torch coral has been shrunken to about a third of the size it used to be in full daylight, and that her pink palythoas were only partially opened. I took some tests just in case and was surprised at the results. Here is the test results from last week and this week.
August 31st, 2006
Temperature: 79.0 F
pH: 8.4
Ammonia: 0.00 ppm
Nitrite: 0.00 ppm
Nitrate: Less than 2.50 ppm
Phosphate: Less than 0.10 ppm
Alk: 3.0 meq/L
Calcium: ~420 ppm
Previous to August 31st, 2006, the tests were always the exact same as they were that day.
Today, September 7th, 2006
Temperature: 79.0 F
pH: 8.6 or greater (More purple than the color listed for 8.6)
Ammonia: 0.00 ppm
Nitrite: 0.00 ppm
Nitrate: Less than 2.50 ppm
Phosphate: ~1.50 ppm
Alk: 3.5 meq/L
Calcium: ~420 ppm
I can't explain these results. She has not been overfeeding because I provide the food in a pink pill container and that is all she gets to give them for the day. The water change water tests perfectly and I change 20% once a week. Nothing that I can see is dead or dying.
Current inhabitants:
(1) Sixline Wrasse (One week)
(1) Yellow Watchman Goby (One week)
(3) Blue leg hermits (Six weeks)
(4) Scarlet reef hermits (Four weeks)
(1) Mexican turbo snail (Six weeks)
(2) Astrea snails (Six weeks)
(1) Nassarius snail (Six weeks)
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be thorough.
What could account for the sudden increase in pH and phosphate?
I'll do a water change ASAP, but I would like to know what happened.
:notsure:
 
stingrayjs

stingrayjs

Member
What are you feeding to teh tank? Flakes, brine, mysis, ect.
I have found that there are some prepered foods expecial flake that has phosphates that can upset teh water balance.
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
Originally Posted by StingrayJs
What are you feeding to teh tank? Flakes, brine, mysis, ect.
I have found that there are some prepered foods expecial flake that has phosphates that can upset teh water balance.
Flakes are the same ones I have been using to feed the main tank in our home for almost a year and the phosphates are fine here. I also feed pellets and occasionally frozen, but again, same foods I feed my bigger tank at home.
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
Originally Posted by tangs123
have you watched the six line, some have been known to pick at a few corals
I have not witnessed the Sixline picking at any corals.
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
For anyone that cares I found the source of the problem:
I purchased the rock from a mature system, however, the owner had incredibly high phosphates (off the chart) in his water and the rocks are leeching the phosphates into my water because it has zero in it when I do a water change.
The high phosphates also have a strong effect on pH and "over buffer" the water making the pH elevated as well.
This was verified by placing a small amount of rock into water with a powerhead, the water tested zero phosphates and a pH of 8.3 and retested after it sat for a few days with high phosphates and high pH of 8.6.
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
After a few large water changes the phosphates have come down to 1.0 ppm; hopefully more will not leech out of the rocks and it will eventually get to zero.
 
reef bug

reef bug

Member
If you're planning on keeping the rock and want to remove the phosphates faster than just with water changes, you might want to try Kent phospahte remover. Fill a mesh bag and run it in your filter until it turns colored. Then you can rinse and re-charge it in the oven. Directions are on the jar.
One jar should do ya.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
I hate Kent Phosphate remover. Everytime I used it, it was junk and did not do anything.
RowaPhos, on the other hand, works wonderfully and does not leech the phosphates back into the system.
I will shoot you an email about the ricordeas.
 
reef bug

reef bug

Member
There are lots of phos absorbing products out there.
Kent worked wonderfully for me which is why I recommended it. Regardless of the brand you choose, follow directions carefully to rpevent leaching. If you remove the absorbant media as directed...before it reaches its saturation...you should be fine. In the case of Kent, it will change colors to let you know when it is exhausted. At that point, remove and re-charge the granules or simply fill the mesh bag with a fresh supply. I threw mine away. I didnt think it was worth the cost savings to make the mess of re-charging. In you case, you may have to do this more than once depending on how much phos is left in your rock. May be worth re-using.
My phos level was slightly elevated, not out of control. The source was flake food and as soon as I identified and removed the source, I have maintained a zero phos level.
Good luck!
 
reef bug

reef bug

Member
Farslayer: Mine phos problem was once and done. I never tried phosguard, but do like other Seachem products. Thanks for the phosguard tip. Hope I never need to use it, but it's good to know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top